Combination carrying carton and display stand

ABSTRACT

A fully enclosed carton, preferably of an elongated rectangular configuration, is parted along the end panel diagonal so as to allow the carton to be divided into triangular halves. At least one of the triangular halves includes a plurality of slots disposed along the apex thereof, with the slots being spaced from one another so that books or like material may be displayed therein when the half is disposed on its unslotted leg. The carton is preferably of a size adapted to house a quantity of books approximately equal to those which may be displayed in either one or both of the triangular halves.

United States Patent Rock et al.

1 51 June 20, 1972 [54] COMBINATION CARRYING CARTON AND DISPLAY STAND[72] Inventors: Edward M. Rock, Hauppauge; Joseph F. V

Loughman, Jr., Ossining; Ann McManus,

[21] Appl. No.: 105,002

2,947,637 8/1960 Fobiano ..206/45.14 x 3,013,668 12/1961 Mennen .211/40FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 524,291 8/1940 Great Britain ..206/45.14

Primary Examiner-M. Henson Wood, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Reinhold W.Thieme AuomeyKenyon & Kenyon Reilly Carr & Chapin ABSTRACT A fullyenclosed carton, preferably of an elongated rectangular configuration,is parted along the end panel diagonal so as to allow the carton to bedivided into triangular halves. At least one of the triangular halvesincludes a plurality of slots disposed along the apex thereof, with theslots being spaced from one another so that books or like material maybe displayed therein when the half is disposed on its unslotted leg. Thecarton is preferably of a size adapted to house a quantity of booksapproximately equal to those which may be displayed in either one orboth of the triangular halves.

11 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures COMBINATION CARRYING CARTON AND DISPLAYSTAND BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates generally tocartons and more particularly to one adapted to be converted from acarton into a book display stand.

Frequently books, pamphlets and other loose paper material or foldershave been placed within spaced vertical members so that they may bedisplayed and made readily accessible to those working with them. Suchstands are in frequent use in both offices and classrooms. Although suchstands are quite convenient and provide ready access to the material ondisplay, it has always been a problem to regroup and move the materialonce usage thereof is ceased. This is particularly true in schools andother educational centers.

For instance, books are parnphlettype materials are frequently providedto schools for use in conjunction with selflearning programs. Suchself-learning programs are often utilized by different grade levels andeven more frequently by different classes in the same grade level. Insuch a situation, once one class or grade level has completed its usageof the material it must then be transported to a different classroom andsometimes a different floor or building. This has in the past requiredthat all the material be removed from the display stand and packaged ina separate carton for transportation to its destination. Aside from theinconvenience, misplacement or loss of the material at times resulted.By the means disclosed herein, a combination carrying case is suppliedwhich when brought to a place such as a classroom may readily beconverted into a display stand so as to encourage the students toparticipate in the self-learning program.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly stated, a carrying carton is providedwhich can readily be converted into a display stand so that the bookshoused within the carton may be placed on display. The carton includesfour elongated side panels and an end enclosing panel attached to eachof the side panels. Each side panel is attached only to its adjacentside panel while the end panel is parted along a diagonal so that thecarton may be divided into triangular halves. Each of the triangularhalves includes a plurality of slots disposed along its apex which slotsare of a width sufficient to hold book or pamphlet-like materialtherein. Carrying or shipment of the carton is facilitated by hinges orother holding means which fasten the two triangular halves together toform a fully enclosed carton adapted to house a plurality of bookstherein.

Preferably, the carton has side panels and end panels which arerectangular in form. The length of the side panels can be madesufficient to receive the number of slots required to hold all of thebooks in one of the triangular halves. In this manner, all of the bookswithin the carton may be displayed at one time in the slots of one ofthe triangular display stands. When each of the triangular halves isprovided with slots, the carton can again be preferably of a lengthsufficient to hold all of the adjacently spaced books in the two halves.The carton may further be provided with flange members along its partinglines or free edges which are adapted to mate with one another when thehalves are assembled together. Dimples and receptacles are thenalternately positioned on the flanges so that a proper mating betweeneach of the triangular halves may be accomplished. In this manner, agroup of books or other pamphlet-like material may be placed within acarrying carton and conveniently transported from one site to another.Once at the site, all of the books or pamphlet-like material may readilybe displayed so as to encourage usage by students.

Accordingly, means for carrying and displaying books or pamphlet-likematerial.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a carton displaystand assembly wherein books or pamphlet-like material user with acomplete package of educational material as well as a display stand.

These and other objects, advantages and features of the invention willbecome more apparent from the following description taken in conjunctionwith the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a perspective view of thecombination carrying carton and display stand of the invention in theclosed position;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged vertical section view of the closed carryingcarton taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. I;

FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the combination carryingcarton and display stand of this invention with the .top triangular halfremoved;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of one of the triangular halves positionedon a flat surface to form a display stand; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of one of the triangular display standsincluding books positioned within the slots of the stand.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to the drawings,particularly FIGS. 1 and 2, the carton I0 is of a rectangularconfiguration and includes four elongated side panels l1, l2, l3 and 14.A pair of end enclosing panels 15 and 16 are attached to each of theside panels and include parting lines 17 which extends diagonallythereacross. The pairs of side panels 11 and 12 as well as 13 and 14 areattached to one another, respectively, in order that the carton may beopened along the diagonal lines 17. Thus side panel 11 is attached onlyto side panel 12 and side panel 13 is attached only to side panel 14. Inthis manner the carton 10 when open forms a pair of substantiallyidentical triangular halves.

The portions of each of the side panels not attached to an adjacentpanel can include a flange member 18 to facilitate and maintain theproper mating of the triangular halves when forming the enclosed;carton. Also, the end panels 15 and 16 include similar flanges I9 alongthe parting lines 17. A plurality of spaced holes and studs in registrytherewith can be provided along flanges l8 and 29 in order to registereach of the triangular halves with respect to one another. For instance,a hole 20 is provided on flange 18 extending from side panel 13 while amating stud 21 is positioned on the flange 18 extending fromside panel12. Preferably, the next registering means would be oppositely disposedso that the stud 21 would then be on the flange of panel 13 and the holeon the flange of panel 12. This insures registering each of thetriangular halves with respect to oneanother in a predetermined mannerand results in proper mating while forming the fully enclosed carryingcarton 10.

Each of the end panels can be provided with a latch member 22 whichholds the two triangular halves together and forms the enclosed carton.The latch 22 can be formed of resin material of a type which is adaptedto be flexed or folded along a hinge line disposed between movingportion 22a and fixed portion 22b. The latch is adapted to engage lug22c when the two halves are assembled together. Both the lug and thelatch are disposed free of the diagonal parting line of the end it is anobject f this invention to id a height of the carton, and as shown thecarton 10 is of a length suflicient to accommodate two stacks ofbooklets disposed adjacent to one another. The booklets housed withinthe carton 10 may be conveniently transported or shipped from site tosite when the carton is fully enclosed and hinged together as may beconveniently housed in a manner so as to provide the shown in FIG. 1.

Each of the triangular halves of the carton includes at the apex thereofa plurality of spaced slots 23. By way of example, it has been foundthat slots approximately one-half inch wide are particular useful withsmaller pamphlet-type materials. Such slots can accommodate three orfour of these pamphlets, depending upon their individual thicknesses.Further by way of example, 10 slots can be spaced apart from one anotherby one inch with each slot being one-half inch in width. In such anexample, the total extent of the width of all of the slots isapproximately 5 inches. The carton as illustrated has an interior heightof approximately 5 inches. Consequently the container can receive a pileof booklets of approximately 5 inches in height which corresponds to thetotal extent of all the slots in one of the triangular halves. As aresult one-half can receive such a pile of booklets in its slots. Whenslots are provided in each of the triangular halves, two piles ofbooklets 30 may be alternately housed within the carton 10 or placed ondisplay in the slots. In this manner, all of the booklets containedwithin the carton 10 may be placed on display so as to encourage use ofthe materials.

Thus, there has been described a combination carrying case and displaystand for books or book-like material. The carrying case or container isof size sufficient to house therein all of the book material which canbe displayed in each of the slotted halves. When the book material isdesired to be put into use, one merely has to separate the twotriangular halves and place the books within the slots for displaypurposes. Thus either or bothof the halves can provide a storage rackfor the material originally disposed in the container. This allows thosewho wish to use the material to readily view each of the books orwhatever material may be on display and select those of the mostinterest.

Although the above description is directed to a preferred embodiment ofthe invention, it is noted that other variations and modifications willbe apparent to those skilled in the art, and may be made withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.

What is claimed is:

l. A container adapted to form a storage rack comprising:

a. a wall structure forming a housing having an interior in whicharticles can be disposed, a portion of the wall structure beingseparable from theremainder thereof along a predetermined partingsurface which is adapted to mate with a substantially correspondingsurface of I the remainder of the wall structure, the separable portionextending outwardly from the parting surface and the interior of thehousing-and being adapted to rest upon at least a portion of the partingsurface when separated from the remainder of the wall structure, theseparable portion having a plurality of slots each extending through thewall thereof and intersecting at least two spaced apart points of thewall, each of the slots being adapted to support an article nestedtherein and bearing upon the spaced apart points thereby enabling theseparable portion to serve as a storage rack; and

b. means for attaching the separable portion of the wall structure tothe remainder thereof to close the container, whereby the wall structureforming the housing can altemately provide a container when theseparable portion is attached to the remainder of the wall structure anda storage rack when the separable portion is separated from theremainder of the wall structure.

2. A container in accordance with claim 1 in which:

a. the wall structure forming a housing having an interior in whicharticles can be disposed comprises two sections each having a'pair ofside walls joined to and extending substantially at right angles to oneanother and a pair of end walls extending between the adjacent endportions of each of the side walls, the sections being separable fromone another along a predetermined parting line extending along the freeedge portions of the side walls and the end walls of each of thesections;

b. the plurality of slots' comprises slots each extending through atleast a portion of each of the side walls of at least one of thesections, each of the slots being adapted to support an article nestedtherein thereby enabling the section to serve as a storage rack; and

c. the means for attaching the separable portion of the wall structureto the remainder thereof comprises means for attaching the sections toone another.

3. A container adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 1and further comprising means disposed upon at least a portion of thepredetermined parting surface of the separable portion of the wallstructure and upon the substantially corresponding surface of theremainder of the wall structure for aligning the separable portion inproper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure whenthe separable portion is placed with the predetermined parting surfacein a mating relationship with the substantially corresponding surface ofthe remainder of the wall structure to close the container.

4. A container adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 3in which said means for aligning the separable portion in properregister with respect to the remainder of the wall structure comprisesthe predetemrined parting surface of the separable portion and thesubstantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wallstructure having a plurality of holes and a plurality of studs adaptedto engage the holes when the separable portion is placed in properregister with respect to the remainder of the wall structure.

5. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which the means forattaching the sections to one another comprises:

a. a lug disposed upon one end wall of the end walls at each end portionof the container when the two sections are attached to one another; and

b. a latch disposed upon the other end wall of the end walls at each endportion of the container when the two sections are attached to oneanother, the latch being adapted to engage the lug adjacent thereto,

whereby the engagement of the latches to their respective lugs attachesthe sections to one another. 7

g 6. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which:

a. the two sections when attached to one another are adapted to receivea plurality of books stacked within the interior thereof; and Y b. eachof the plurality of slots extending through at least a portion of eachof the side walls of at least one of the sections is adapted to supportand store at least one of the plurality of books adapted to be receivedby the two sections when attached to one another.

' 7. A combination carrying carton and display stand adapted to house aplurality of books and to be converted into a book display and storagestand which comprises:

a. a pair of sections-each including:

i. a pair of elongated side panels connected to one another along alongitudinal edge of each thereof and extending at substantially rightangles with respect to one another,

. a pair of end enclosing panels each being attached along edges thereofto the edges of a different end portion of said pair of side panels andextending therebetween, the free edge of each end panel extendingsubstantially between the free longitudinal edges of the pair of sidepanels, the free edges of each of the sections forming parting linesalong with the pair of sec- 8. A combination carrying carton and displaystand as defined in claim 7 wherein each of said slots has a width atleast equal to the thickness of at least one of the plurality of booksadapted to be housed in the carton.

9. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7wherein the number and the width of the slots are predetermined toenable a predetermined portion of the plurality of books to be disposedin the slots of one of the said sections.

10. A combination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim7 wherein:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE OF CORRECTION Patent No.3,670,872 Dated June 20, 1972 Edward M. Rock: at 9.1;

Invent0r(s) It is certified that error appears in the above-identifiedpatent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Column 2, line m, "29" should be 19 Column a, line 66, "with" should bewhich Signed and sealed this 17th day of October 1972.

(SEAL) Attest:

EDWARD M.FLETCHER,JR. ROBERT GOTTSCHALK Commissioner of PatentsAttesting Officer USCOMM-DC 6037 6-P69 FORM PO-1050 (10-69) u.s.GOVERNMENT mm'rme OFFICE: I969 o-aes-au

1. A container adapted to form a storage rack comprising: a. a wallstructure forming a housing having an interior in which articles can bedisposed, a portion of the wall structure being separable from theremainder thereof along a predetermined parting surface which is adaptedto mate with a substantially corresponding surface of the remainder ofthe wall structure, the separable portion extending outwardly from theparting surface and the interior of the housing and being adapted torest upon at least a portion of the parting surface when separated fromthe remainder of the wall structure, the separable portion having aplurality of slots each extending through the wall thereof andintersecting at least two spaced apart points of the wall, each of theslots being adapted to support an article nested therein and bearingupon the spaced apart points thereby enabling the separable portion toserve as a storage rack; and b. means for attaching the separableportion of the wall structure to the remainder thereof to close thecontainer, whereby the wall structure forming the housing canalternately provide a container when the separable portion is attachedto the remainder of the wall structure and a storage rack when theseparable portion is separated from the remainder of the wall structure.2. A container in accordance with claim 1 in which: a. the wallstructure forming a housing having an interior in which articles can bedisposed comprises two sections each having a pair of side walls joinedto and extending substantially at right angles to one another and a pairof end walls extending between the adjacent end portions of each of theside walls, the sections being separable from one another along apredetermined parting line extending along the free edge portions of theside walls and the end walls of each of the sections; b. the pluralityof slots comprises slots each extending through at least a portion ofeach of the side walls of at least one of the sections, each of theslots being adapted to support an article nested therein therebyenabling the section to serve as a storage rack; and c. the means forattaching the separable portion of the wall structure to the remainderthereof comprises means for attaching the sections to one another.
 3. Acontainer adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 1 andfurther comprising means disposed upon at least a portion of thepredetermined parting surface of the separable portion of the wallstructure and upon the substantially corresponding surface of theremainder of the wall structure for aligning the separable portion inproper register with respect to the remainder of the wall structure whenthe separable portion is placed with the predetermined parting surfacein a mating relationship with the substantially corresponding surface ofthe remainder of the wall structure to close the container.
 4. Acontainer adapted to form a storage rack in accordance with claim 3 inwhich said means for aligning the separable portion in proper registerwith respect to the remainder of the wall structure comprises thepredetermined parting surface of the separable portion and thesubstantially corresponding surface of the remainder of the wallstructure having a plurality of holes and a plurality of studs adaptedto engage the holes when the separable portion is placed in properregister with respect to the remainder of the wall structure.
 5. Acontainer in accordance with claim 2 in which the means for attachingthe sections to one another comprises: a. a lug disposed upon one endwall of the end walls at each end portion of the container when the twosections are attached to one another; and b. a latch disposed upon theother end wall of the end walls at each end portion of the containerwhen the two sections are attached to one another, the latch beingadapted to engage the lug adjacent thereto, whereby the engagement ofthe latches to their respective lugs attaches the sections to oneanother.
 6. A container in accordance with claim 2 in which: a. the twosections when attached to one another are adapted to receive a pluralityof books stacked within the interior thereof; and b. each of theplurality of slots extending through at least a portion of each of theside walls of at least one of the sections is adapted to support andstore at least one of the plurality of books adapted to be received bythe two sections when attached to one another.
 7. A combination carryingcarton and display stand adapTed to house a plurality of books and to beconverted into a book display and storage stand which comprises: a. apair of sections each including: i. a pair of elongated side panelsconnected to one another along a longitudinal edge of each thereof andextending at substantially right angles with respect to one another, ii.a pair of end enclosing panels each being attached along edges thereofto the edges of a different end portion of said pair of side panels andextending therebetween, the free edge of each end panel extendingsubstantially between the free longitudinal edges of the pair of sidepanels, the free edges of each of the sections forming parting linesalong with the pair of sections are joined to form a carton, at leastone of said sections having a plurality of spaced slots intersecting theconnecting longitudinal edges of a pair of side panels and adapted todisplay and store book material therein when said one section is nestingon the free edges of its side and end panels; and b. means for couplingeach of said sections to one another to form a fully enclosed carryingcarton adapted to house a plurality of books therein.
 8. A combinationcarrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein each ofsaid slots has a width at least equal to the thickness of at least oneof the plurality of books adapted to be housed in the carton.
 9. Acombination carrying carton and display stand as defined in claim 7wherein the number and the width of the slots are predetermined toenable a predetermined portion of the plurality of books to be disposedin the slots of one of the said sections.
 10. A combination carryingcarton and display stand as defined in claim 7 wherein: each of saidsections contains therein a plurality of slots, said carton is of alength sufficient to house two stacks of adjacently spaced books, thespace equal to the sum of the widths of the plurality of slots in eachsection is substantially equal to the height of said carton taken in thedirection of the extent of the stacks of books adapted to be disposedtherein.
 11. A combination carrying carton and display stand as definedin claim 10 wherein said end panels are of a rectangular configuration.